Wounded Guidance
by Moosche
Summary: Optimus goes missing overnight, but found easily. Seeking comfort in Ratchet from the ordeal. And a runaway Autobot helps him in a way he didn't think he'd find so easily.
1. Chapter 1

**New Thingy!**

**Story**

**Couldn't remember what it was called then**

**Hopefully I can remember to update every week since I've just finished writing this out on paper**

**enjoy :)**

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><p><em><strong>Optimus goes missing<strong>_

"Any luck Ratchet?" Bumblebee asked grimly.

"None." Ratchet sighed in defeat. "Bulkhead?"

"Nope." Bulkhead squeaked. "Prowl?"

"Nothing here either." Prowl mumbled.

"He's got to be somewhere!" Sari cried from inside Bumblebee.

"We're not giving up kid. Optimus wouldn't." Ratchet reassured. "Everyone, back to base. We need to rethink this."

The team all turned around and dully drove back to their base from their respected areas. Each one frustrated and upset, because sometime during their leader's patrol last night, he vanished. Ratchet first spotted it when Optimus hadn't checked in with him in the morning like he usually does. Ratchet passed it off as late recharging from being exhausted from the night patrol. But when he went to check on the young Prime, he found the chamber empty, untouched. That was when he sounded the alarm. It wasn't like the Prime to run off or not mention something. They had searched the streets of Detroit all day. Bumblebee and Sari had the north, Bulkhead the east, Prowl the west and Ratchet the south. They were reluctant to return, but they had to rethink the search plan. Refine where they're looking. As they all arrived at the base, they found Jazz waiting for them.

"What are you doing here?" Ratchet asked as they transformed into their robot forms.

"I've been assigned here." Jazz shrugged.

"Good." Ratchet nodded. "We could use all the help we can find."

"I'm sure the Decepticon threat isn't that bad." Jazz frowned at Ratchet's words.

"It's not that." Ratchet sighed. "Optimus has gone missing."

"Wait! What? When?" Jazz spluttered.

"Last night. He didn't return to base after patrol." Ratchet explained.

"So how can I help?2 Jazz asked, clearly concerned.

"Why don't we get the police to help?" Sari suggested. "And Teleetran?"

"_Ratchet! I found him! He needs urgent medical attention!" _Prowl shouted over the com link.

"Where are ya kid?" Ratchet asked frantically.

"_Quite deep in the forest on the west side, if you drive through the pathway. I'll meet you there."_ Prowl instructed.

"Don't leave Prime." Ratchet ordered as he transformed. "Jazz, follow me. The rest of you stay here."

Jazz transformed and they both sped to the woods with Ratchet in front, blaring his sirens. Bumblebee, Sari and Bulkhead retreated into the base to watch the monitors, hoping that their leader's alright.

Ratchet and Jazz soon found Prowl on the main path through the forest. The worried look on Prowl's usually emotionless face instantly distressed Ratchet. Both bots transformed, with Ratchet stomping up to Prowl.

"I told you _not_ to leave him!" Ratchet growled.

"He won't let me near him." Prowl sighed.

"What injuries could you see?" Ratchet asked.

"Dents, scratches, few of which are leaking energon. He's made a trail from where, I'm guessing, he was attacked." Prowl replied, staring off to the side.

Jazz glanced where Prowl was gazing, finding a hint of blue armour through the leaves. He poked Ratchet and pointed towards the bright blue armour. Ratchet slowly made his way towards it, trying not to make too much sound. He got about a foot away before he crouched down awkwardly to be level with Optimus. Optimus was curled tightly into himself, his face plates pressed into his knees, his arms locked around his legs. Ratchet could easily see the large dents and scratches that littered Optimus's armoured body. Ratchet moved a servo forward to touch Optimus's arm, but as it made contact, Optimus flew backwards, into the tree, shaking violently. Optimus's helm was tilted, shielding his optics from everyone. But his open injuries were what Ratchet feared for. Two very large hand marks were dented into Optimus's hips and most of the energon leaked from his lower torso. Ratchet gritted his teeth in anger at the thought of what they had done to Optimus

"Optimus." Ratchet called softly. "It's just me, Prowl and Jazz. You're safe."

Optimus slowly raised his helm to look at Ratchet, optics full of hurt and fear, with one offline and smashed.

"I'm going to use the EMP on you, not that I want to. We can fix everything when we get back to the plant." Ratchet kept his voice soft and quiet.

"N-no, I-I'll be fine." Optimus stammered.

"You're not Optimus." Ratchet argued. "Let us take care of you."

"I-I don't w-want the others to . . . k-know what happened." Optimus cried, fresh tears falling down his stained face.

"They won't know unless you tell them. Now try to relax. We won't hurt you. I promise." Ratchet reassured as he charged the EMP, blasting Optimus with enough charge to knock him out.

Ratchet picked up the wounded leader carefully in his arms, carrying him back to the path. Jazz gasped at the damage while Prowl's jaw dropped. Ratchet made Jazz and Prowl hold Optimus while he transformed

"Load him in as best and as carefully as you can, then get to the base and keep the others away until I say so." Ratchet ordered.

Jazz and Prowl nodded as they loaded Optimus into the back of Ratchet. They transformed and sped away quickly. Ratchet followed the two ninjas at a slower pace.

"What has he done to you Prime?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys**

**I remembered!**

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><p><em><strong>The Next Day<strong>_

Ratchet entered the med bay the next morning to check on the Prime. Only to find the room empty. Ratchet panicked and ran through the base, calling his name. Bumblebee ran into Ratchet after he turned a corner.

"Boss bot's in there with Jazz. What's happened to him?" Bumblebee snapped.

"I don't know kid." Ratchet shot back, swiftly walking into the rec room.

Optimus was cowering in the corner, shaking and heaving with sobs. Jazz was rubbing his arm, trying to offer him as much comfort as he could take. When Ratchet crouched next to Jazz, Optimus retreated further into himself, pulling his legs closer. His arms were draped over his helm, protecting it. Jazz got to his feet, giving Ratchet more room to comfort the Prime. Ratchet touched Optimus's arms before sliding his fingers around the blue wrists and tried to pull the arms away. Optimus struggled against him, pushing with his feet.

"Prime! It's just us! Your team. Your friends." Ratchet reasoned.

Optimus stopped struggling and lowered his arms, keeping his helm tilted down. His frame shook in fear of something. "He was here Ratchet."

"No he wasn't." Ratchet argued, not sure what the Prime was talking about. He pulled the Prime to his feet. "We would've protected you anyway."

Optimus suddenly leaned into Ratchet, almost as if he was trying to bury himself within the medic. Ratchet loosely wrapped his arms around the broken bot, weary in case Optimus was still invisibly damaged. Optimus was still shaking in Ratchet's arms, but at least he didn't hide away from everyone.

"Optimus." Sari called from Bumblebee. Optimus only turned his head so that he could see her. "We may not know what happened to you. But we know that we are here if you ever need us."

"Yeah!" Bumblebee added. "Even if we have to slag the one who hurt you."

"You've allowed me to stay here because I lost my dad. Now we are here for you." Sari emphasised.

"Thank you Sari." Optimus mumbled.

"If you need to talk to someone. Jazz and I are here. Even if it's in the middle of the night." Prowl offered.

"I give good hugs. If you want one. Or . . . that's what I was told back on the energon farm." Bulkhead smiled.

"Before we do anything. I still have a few more tests to carry out." Ratchet ordered. "Plus, unless you get a good recharge, you'll drop off on the spot."

Ratchet turned the two, hovering a hand over the Prime's back. But not actually touching. Optimus allowed Ratchet to guide him back to the med-bay. Ratchet went to the scanner, letting Optimus get himself comfy on the berth beside him. Optimus sat with his arms wrapped around himself and his knees pulled up. The medic sighed; noting that his Prime was too quiet and that he now drew his knees up, as if to protect himself. He never did that. He was always relaxed when it came to check-ups and always made light conversation to take his mind off the scans.

"Ready kid?" Ratchet asked softly. "I'm just going to take an internal scan in case your wounded or ruptured a previous one earlier."

Optimus nodded but still dragged his knees further towards him.

"I need you to lay down flat." Ratchet instructed, keeping his voice light.

Optimus slowly and nervously unwrapped himself and lay back. He still lightly shook in fear though, something else that caught Ratchet's optics. Ratchet scanned the Prime three times to triple check everything. He glanced up at the image on the screen and frowned at a dark patch on the image. He wracked his processor to find where he had seen it . . . before. His optics widened in horror and anger, a growl ripping through his throat. It scared Optimus, who scrambled to his feet and almost run off. Until Ratchet used his magnets to drag him back. The medic then realised that the action only made the fragile Prime worse as he watched his leader crumple to the floor in tears. Ratchet swiftly got to his knees beside Optimus, pulling the mech into his chassis and letting him cry. Ratchet softly rubbed the Prime's back in reassurance and to say sorry for using the magnets.

"I'm sorry kid." Ratchet mumbled. "I shouldn't have done it."

"W-why did you seem so mad?" Prime cried. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Ratchet whispered, extremely worried for the Prime's childlike actions. "Tell me what happened."

Prime shook his helm, buring his face in his medic's chassis.

"Prime. I need to know." Ratchet pressed.

Optimus whimpered. "No." and pushed Ratchet away, trying to run again.

But Ratchet managed to catch his leg. "Prime."

"He raped me!" the Prime snapped. "Megatron raped me then beat me until I was unconscious! Are you happy now?"

Ratchet stood and took the hysterical mech in his arms again. Optimus just buried himself into the protective hold around him, needing the soft contact.

"Prime." Ratchet sighed, dreading the younger bot's reaction to what he was about to say. "There . . . there's a chance that you could've created a sparkling."

"What?" Optimus jumped back, not wanting to believe it. "No. I-I can't. NO!"

"I said a chance." Ratchet held the mech's shoulders. "The scan showed your reproduction chamber is getting ready to hold a protoform. Unless a spark is formed in 5 orbital cycles, then it'll just shrink back. Ok?"

Prime nodded, venting hard to calm himself down.


	3. Chapter 3

_****___**I thought I may just explain something about this fic . . .**

**Most of the chapters will just show how Optimus copes with it all **

**It kind of doesn't follow a big plot until the end **

**It's just how I written it and didn't just want to skip a lot of time**

**I tend to just waffle on and on a lot through my fics**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 3<strong>_

Optimus sat on the chair they used for monitor duty, watching the news on the screens in front of him. He had his feet tucked in, his knees against his chassis and a blanket wrapped around his frame. He had shivered all through the night and when Ratchet had taking his core temperature, they found that it had dropped considerably and his heating was responding the way it should. Ratchet had already recalibrated his settings and gave him a heated blanket to help.

Ratchet had called the others in for a meeting regarding the Prime's condition in the rec room. Bumblebee, Jazz and Sari sat on one sofa, Prowl on the small barrel next to Jazz and Bulkhead used the kibble on his back as a chair. Ratchet stood in front of them all, staring at the Prime, concerned at the quiet behaviour.

"Right." Ratchet clapped, tearing his attention from Prime. "After I scanned Prime yesterday, I found that it will take a while for him to recover fully from his injuries. Therefore, he is being taken off his patrol duties and put on monitor duty only."

"What's wrong with Prime?" Sari asked.

"Something snapped inside him, something he put strain on yesterday. And his heating system needed to be recalibrated again." Ratchet explained.

"So he's got the Cybertronian version of a cold?" Sari raised an eyebrow.

"He will have if he doesn't . . . heat up soon." Ratchet smiled when he glanced at the Prime.

Everyone did, with Sari vocally awing at him. He had pulled he blanket up over his olfactory sensor and had fallen into a deep recharge in the chair.

"How long will he be recovering?" Prowl asked.

"I'm not sure Prowl."Ratchet sighed. "He's having a check every orn if everything goes ok."

"So it's a case of looks worse than it was eh?" Jazz shrugged.

"On the outside. But his internal systems were jolted in the attack." Ratchet sighed again. "Back to the matter in hand. Because Prime's removed from patrol duty, we'll have to rewrite the rota to accommodate the change."

"Tell ya what. Why don't I just fill in for OP?" Jazz suggested. "Ya don't need ta change it then."

"That's much easier than rearranging everything." Ratchet nodded.

"Can we get back to our game now?" Bumblebee whined.

"Yes. But turn it down or off." Ratchet ordered, heading over to Optimus to get him to moveinto his room to recharge better.

The Prime never moved nor stirred as Ratchet gently ran his hand across the audial fins. But the fin twitched. Something that no one knew he could do. Ratchet decided to leave the Prime where he was, knowing that moving him could make him worse than he already was. Ratchet was just about to leave the room to retreat into the med-bay, when a clang from the TV echoed in the room as Bumblebee started up the video game. It jolted Optimus out of recharge suddenly. He fell off the chair, panicking even more as he tangled his limbs in the blanket. Prowl glared at Bumblebee before heading over the Prime to help calm him down.

"Sorry boss bot." Bumblebee shouted meekly, squeaking when Ratchet whacked his helm.

"Prime, no-one's coming to get you." Prowl reassured, keeping a firm grip on the hyperventilating bot.

Prime suddenly shot to his feet, escaping Prowl's grip and ran, only just about escaping Ratchet's servos. Ratchet would've used his magnets to drag him back, but after the last time, he just let the Prime run. He knew the kid wouldn't run far.

And he was right in a way.

Optimus sat under a bridge, sheltered from prying eyes and 2 miles from the plant. The shadows darkened his bright frame. His feet were pressed against the opposite wall, his arms around his bent knees. He stared down at his torso, frowning deeply in sorrow and lost. The heir of the Decepticon warlord could be growing inside him soon. He just knew a sparkling would soon form beside his spark. The Decepticon leader would ensure it. Optimus couldn't let the vile monster take the possible sparkling. If there was one.

"I should have stayed out of this from the start. I should have known Megatron would've taken revenge." He mumbled to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

_****___**Crappy chapter alert**

**This was just a filler to show how my OC Pixel enters the plot line. She may not seem like a big feature, but in later chapters, you'll see why she's there.**

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><p><em><strong>The team meet Pixel<strong>_

"Guys!" Sari shouted, shutting her phone and running up to the Autobots. "We got a problem! There's a giant robot running through the city!"

"It's probably just Prime." Prowl shrugged.

"That's the thing, it isn't!" Sari argued.

"Come on then. Let's find out who it is." Jazz bounced to his feet.

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><p>"She or he's heading towards you." Fanzone directed.<p>

The police force chased the bot down the main highway towards the Autobots blocking the exit. They transformed and got ready to fight in case it was a Decepticon. A blue and white figure sped into view in front of the emergency flashing lights from the police cars. The bot skidded to a stop in front of the Autobots, glaring at them over a face mask. Hey sky blue optics swept over each bot, widening when they settled on the head medic. Ratchet stood calmly and held his servos out to silent tell the bot that he meant no harm to her. She ran into his open arms, hugging him close, with Ratchet's arms securing around her. She tried to hide her face into his chassis in fear.

"It's alright now, you're safe with us." Ratchet reassured while rubbing her back.

"W-where are we?" she asked timidly.

"We're on an organic planet called Earth." Ratchet replied.

"You know this Decepticon?" Fanzone shouted up to the two bots.

"I do, and she is no Decepticon." Ratchet growled. "She's far from it."

"And besides, where's Prime?" Fanzone asked, noticing that their leader had vanished. "Had enough of this dump and ran away?"

"Well, he did run off." Bumblebee mumbled meekly.

"He's injured. If you see him, tell us immediately." Ratchet demanded. "He can turn up dead if we're not watching."

"You said they weren't that bad." Bumblebee shouted in confusion.

"Kid, one hit could dislodge a part that's not healing right. A part that's close to his spark chamber." Ratchet explained. "Prowl, Jazz, go and search for Prime. I need to check over him. We need to scan you too Pixel. Just as a precaution."

"Who's Pixel?" Sari asked after finally catching up to them.

"I-I am." The femme nervously replied for Ratchet.

"Come on. Let's get you checked over." Ratchet smiled, letting go of Pixel and guiding the femme with a hand on her back.

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><p>Pixel sat on the sofa next to Bumblebee, nervously shifting every now and then as she watched him and Sari race each other on one of their new racing games.<p>

"You feeling alright?" Ratchet asked the femme as he came into the room to com Prowl and Jazz.

"Yes, thank you." She smiled up at the medic behind her.

Ratchet smiled back and turned to the monitors when Pixel leaned over the back of the sofa to ask: "Who's the Prime?"

"He's Optimus Prime." Ratchet replied.

"What happened to him? I mean, how is he injured?" she asked, concerned.

"He was attacked by Megatron." Ratchet sighed. "You didn't see him did you?"

"I- . . . I don't think I did." She frowned, trying to recall where she had run.

"A better question is do you remember him?" Ratchet smirked.

"Of course I do." Pixel laughed. "Did you really think I'd forget the person to shove Wheeljack in the pond while I threw Sentinel in?"

"Didn't think you would." Ratchet chuckled.

"You know Boss Bot?" Bumblebee asked, frowning softly.

"Yeah. We were friends since we were younglings and just started school." Pixel smiled, tuning back to the race. "I whacked Sentinel over the head with a wrench after he stole Optimus's favourite pen."


	5. Chapter 5

**So so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for the huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge gap inbetween uploading these**

**I've been so busy that I actually forgot all about them.**

**I hope most of the stuff in this is quite clear**

**I'm not very good at explaining things :S**

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><p><em><strong>Optimus's return<strong>_

"Guys!" Prowl shouted over the com links, scaring everyone but Sari and Pixel. "The Angry Archer and Nanosec have escaped again. One's hit Jazz and offlined him. I would pursue but I can't leave Jazz."

"Bring Jazz back, we'll go out and catch these two crooks." Ratchet ordered.

"I'm already outside the plant. The attack happened not far from there." Prowl explained, clearly tired from running as he entered the med bay.

Prowl burst through the doors, clutching an unconscious Jazz in her arms, his visor tilted in a worried expression. He gently lowered Jazz onto the medical berth, the others coming to see how the mech was.

"You lot go after Nanosec and Angry Archer, I'll fix him up." Ratchet ordered.

"You go too Ratchet. They'll need you out there, if one of them could do this to Jazz. Pixel suggested, motioning to the large gash on Jazz's abdomen. "I remember what you taught me."

Ratchet stared down at Pixel, being a helm taller than her, contemplating her offer. He turned his back to the femme, taking two tools out and handing them to her.

"Weld any damaged wires with this and use this to make sure everything's connected alright." He explained, pointing to the relevant tools.

Pixel glanced down to the sparking wound, soon turning to Ratchet. "Got it."

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><p>"Is she qualified to repair Jazz?" Prowl growled as they dove through the streets, looking for the two crooks.<p>

"She was my apprentice for a few hundred stellar cycles until she chose a different profession in medical." Ratchet explained. "She'll patch him up in no time."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Prowl mumbled.

Bumble bee swerved to avoid a flaming arrow that exploded as it hit the concrete. They were close. They instantly transformed after finding Nanosec running around Optimus, distracting him while the Angry Archer aimed at the mech. Ratchet was about to warn Prime when an arrow smacked into his torso, knocking him back and burning his armour. Optimus spun, catching one of Nanosec's arms and lifting him as the bot stood.

"Prime!" Ratchet called after seeing the black mark that burnt into Optimus's red and blue torso. "You alright after that blast?"

"I'll be fine, it's just a scratch." Optimus shrugged.

They didn't expect Nanosec to lift his legs and kick Prime's chassis, using the force of the boosts on his suit. The Prime stumbled back, holding his chassis and let go of the speedster. Nanosec looked back to laugh at his accomplishment, when he smacked into the back of a police van. A waiting trap. Prowl had managed to pounce on the Angry Archer as he tried to save his comrade.

"Prime?" Ratchet checked on their leader.

"I'll be . . . I'm . . ." Optimus breathed. "I'm fine."

Optimus swayed like the world was tilting, hlding both his chassis and his helm. Shutting his optics tightly, he fell backwards, falling into stasis.

"PRIME!" Sari shriekded in surprise, running to his helm.

She went to use her key as she clambered onto Optimus's chassis.

"I don't think your key is going to heal his injuries." Ratchet explained, a worried look on his faceplates.

"What do you mean?" Sari asked.

"Prime will tell us. But now, he has to get some rest in the medbay." Ratchet picked Sari off the injured Prime, then picking up Prime himself.

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><p>The first thing Prowl and Ratchet done when they got back to the plant was head straight to the medbay. Ratchet smirked at the sight of Jazz and Pixel messing around, whereas Prowl just raised one side of his visor.<p>

Jazz was sitting on the floor, laughing, with a paint can over his helm, clutching his sides. The floor, walls and medical berth were covered in white paint with footprints everywhere. All while Pixel hopped around on one pede as she tried to split her servos.

"What in the all spark happened here?" Ratchet shouted at the two, putting Optimus carefully onto the clean berth.

"He threw paint at me!" Pixel blamed.

"You tickled me!" Jazz shrieked. "And you glued your servos together!"

"Only after you kicked the welder at me!" Pixel shot back.

"Your fault for touching a sensor!" Jazz exclaimed.

"Both of you, out, before Prowl drags you out!" Ratchet warned. "Get someone to prise your servos apart."

Both bots scampered out of the medbay, our of Ratchet's way, fearing a wrench to the helm.

After they left, Ratchet scanned their leader to find out what had caused him to go into emergency stasis. He guessed the power of Nanosec's kick had something to do with it. While the scanner uploaded the image to the screen, he looked at the burn mark. He took a cloth and a special cleanser, and cleaned the armour. Some parts had come off in flakes, but it wasn't anything Ratchet couldn't fix easily. Luckily, nothing was damaged underneath, which was extremely lucky for the Prime.

Ratchet opened the Prime's chest after finding nothing. The motion stirred the Prime from stasis, soon panicking. He kicked at Ratchet and tried pushing the medic away.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, I'm just checking that nothing's damaged." Ratchet softly reassured.

"Sorry," Optimus mumbled before relaxing back into the berth.

The leader watched in concern as Ratchet examined his spark and the chamber around it. Ratchet frowned deeply at the shape of the spark. The frown scared the Prime into worry and snapped his spark chamber shut, covering it with his arms. He pushed himself up against the wall, away from the medic, curling in on himself.

"Why were you looking at it like that? What's wrong with it?" Optimus snapped.

"To be honest, I don't know fully. I would need a second opinion." Ratchet sighed.

"There aren't any medics here." Optimus mumbled.

"Are you willing to let a trainee to take a look at it? She's almost a sparkling medic." Ratchet suggested.

Optimus frowned. "There's one here?"

"Just arrived actually." Ratchet nodded. "I can ask her if you wish. I won't tell her why."

"Yes, thank you." Optimus nodded.


End file.
